Chapter 133: Aerial Bombs

Chapter 133: Air‑Dropped Bomb

While waiting for the representative of the Ring Merchants to arrive, Chen Jian kept replaying where that strange intuition of his had come from.

The first doubt that occurred to him was that the Ring Merchants would try to initiate contact with them.

After all, they were merely merchants, and merchants pursue profit.

The mission had already been issued, the contract was not yet finished—what reason did they have to pay such close attention to this matter, to the party carrying out the contract?

Although their excuse was “we received intelligence about Caohe Town in Wuxue and came to ask the squad for details,” which sounded reasonable, Chen Jian felt the action was somewhat abrupt.

The Ring merchants had always given him an impression of steadiness, and among others their movements were equally mysterious.

So would such a secretive organization suddenly start paying attention to an insignificant little town?

Even if a demon lair there had been wiped out, even if the one who wiped it out was their own cooperative partner.

But the affair was already over—did they still need to ask?

Putting himself in their shoes, Chen Jian realized that if he were in their position, actively seeking contact under these circumstances could only be for two reasons.

Either they believed the partner’s actions exceeded the contract’s limits, bringing uncontrollable risk.

Or they themselves knew that this “small matter” was in fact not small at all.

From the tone of Wang Lizi over the radio, he seemed dissatisfied with nothing the squad had done.

That meant they were very likely informed of the true situation in Anqing, and of course they knew the connection between the demons of Caohe Town and those of the Anqing ruins.

If that were the case, things would become complicated.

Chen Jian unconsciously rubbed the trigger of his 191, beginning to review from start to finish his entire process of contact with the Ring Merchants.

They had taken the initiative, using a batch of equipment to earn the squad’s initial trust, then naturally proposed a trade method, issued a task‑style contract, and the contract naturally revolved around their trade routes.

The monstrous beasts of Wuxue were clearly linked to Anqing, but the unexpected twist lay in Caohe.

They could not have foreseen the squad heading to Caohe, nor could they have foreseen the squad discovering the demons’ source from clues inside the demon lair.

If they wanted to pre‑orchestrate all of this, they would have had to cut off the water route to Anqing.—

Wait.

Was our squad’s overland advance a coincidence or inevitable?

Chen Jian suddenly realized that, no matter the circumstances, no matter how many times we replayed it, he would inevitably choose the land route again.

Because the water route held too many uncertainties, and the squad’s most important gear—the cat‑cart—could hardly be loaded onto a boat without being noticed by the Machine God Cult and the Holy Blood Hall.

Land was his home turf; he instinctively avoided the high‑risk waterway.

So.

Were the squad’s actions actually all within the Ring Merchants’ expectations?

Chen Jian furrowed his brow, then explained his hypothesis to the others.

This hypothesis was quickly accepted, but the question remained: why would they do that?

“They could have simply told us the real situation in Anqing, yet they deliberately hid key information—why?”

“Are they trying to use Anqing’s demons to wipe us out? That’s childish—do they think we’d march straight into Anqing without any reconnaissance?”

“Besides us, any combat‑capable group in this world wouldn’t be that stupid.”

When Chen Jian finished speaking, Ji Xing beside him shook his head and said:

“They’ve always been like this.”

“I don’t see this as a dangerous signal; they’re just squeezing every bit of value out of you.”

“When we accepted their mission to go to the mountain city earlier, it was roughly the same process.”

“We didn’t originally know we were headed for the mountain city, but one task after another pulled us there.”

“By the time we realized it, it was too late—not that we couldn’t leave, but in our minds everyone had fallen into some kind of frenzy.”

“It felt as if our spirits had been taken over; in short, we couldn’t wait to get a look inside the mountain city.”

“And that’s why, when that elite monster appeared, so many Holy Blood warriors gave their lives.”

“So they’re exploiting some kind of threshold effect to raise the mission’s success rate.”

He Shuo pondered and said:

“But we can’t rule out the possibility that they’re using us—how about we lay our cards on the table?”

“Not for now.”

Chen Jian shook his head:

“They use us, we can use them too.”

“Anqing has to be taken, Hua Du has to be taken.”

“But before we open fire, we can demand more chips.”

As they spoke, Chen Jian’s radio crackled with Wang Lizi’s call.

The group exchanged glances and immediately halted their discussion.

Afterwards, Chen Jian confirmed via radio the information of the arriving representative, while Wang Lizi gave them a new meeting place.

Just a few kilometers north of Anqing City lay a small settlement.

“There’s a small storage shed there, holding some special equipment we gathered while trading.”

“If the situation is really as dire as you say, we can advance your payment.”

“But the condition is that you must continue the mission, eradicate the demons inside the Anqing ruins, and clean the place out completely.”

“Whatever happens, first go to the shed and have a look.”

“Once you’re there, you can decide whether to keep going.”

After the radio was cut off, Chen Jian let out a long breath.

Now he was finally certain that the other side definitely knew the state of the Anqing ruins.

They had even prepared their equipment in advance.

But it didn’t matter.

You might think you’re using us, but in truth, use is always mutual.

“Come on, pack up the gear, get ready to head for the shed.”

“Since they’ve come all this way, let them do something.”

“We were also planning to spread word about Anqing and Hua Du; now it looks better if that news doesn’t come from us.”

“Let the Ring Merchants handle it—they’re best at this sort of thing!”

An hour later, the squad arrived at the storage shed Wang Lizi had mentioned.

Outside, a Ring Merchants representative was waiting, and his demeanor was completely unlike any Ring Merchants member Chen Jian had seen before.

Silent and taciturn, gloomy and quiet, he hardly spoke a word from start to finish.

After a quick verification of Chen Jian and his companions' identities, he swung the warehouse doors wide and ushered them inside.

"Help yourselves."

The man spoke:

"The supplies inside are at most Level‑2 controlled; they're all yours to allocate."

"All of it?"

Chen Jian asked in disbelief:

"Such a huge storeroom, and you're giving it all to us?"

"It's a loan."

As the words fell, Ji Xing instinctively glanced toward Chen Jian.

"Good grief, you just gave an example like that a moment ago, and now it's happening right here?"

"Is someone really going to hand you weapons and not even ask for anything in return??"

Chen Jian eyed the warehouse guard with suspicion, but after stepping inside and giving the place a quick once‑over, his doubts eased a little.

The warehouse was indeed large, though not extravagantly so.

Its vast storage space was filled with masses of low‑value goods—food, raw materials, and assorted trade commodities.

Only a tiny fraction of the inventory consisted of weapons or equipment that could meet the squad's immediate needs; by volume it hardly seemed impressive.

Yet the variety was staggering.

Besides the usual grenades and rocket launchers, Chen Jian first spotted a batch of extended‑range mortar shells compatible with the PBP201.

The quantity wasn't huge, but there were twenty‑six rounds in total. "We'll take all of these shells, packed and ready to go."

Chen Jian said:

"Our mortar ammo is exhausted; we'll keep twelve rounds and send the remaining fourteen back to Huangshi City to bolster our long‑range firepower."

"No problem."

He Xu nodded, then asked:

"Is it really necessary to hold onto twelve rounds? Why not just send them all back to Huangshi City?"

"Such short‑range lethality will be of little use in the fights to come—strategically or tactically, it's barely worth anything."

"We might as well treat it as a windfall, pocketing a bit of insurance money up front."

".That's not how we should see it."

Chen Jian shook his head:

"Although it's tough, the problem of the Anqing ruins isn't completely unsolvable."

"Ten people can't encircle four thousand, but if we first strike the key targets inside the ruins and behead that demon horde, scattering and destroying them piecemeal,"

"once their command structure collapses, their combat effectiveness will likely be no greater than that of the converts we've already faced."

"So long‑range support weapons remain necessary."

"We need to broaden our thinking—not insist on wiping them out in one go; do you think the enemy is some Indian who'll just raise his hands and surrender?"

".Indeed."

He Xu paused, then added:

"Decapitation is still too gentle for them—if we can kill them all, we should."

".You're getting a bit radical there."

Chen Jian sighed, turned his gaze to another crate beside the mortar shells.

He lifted the lid and saw a Type‑201 squad machine gun.

It looked almost brand new, with hardly any oxidation.

But how useful this thing might be is hard to say.

Chen Jian instinctively reached for the weapon, only to find its weight off when he picked it up.

He frowned, flicked on his tactical flashlight, and then exclaimed in astonishment:

"Damn, it's a weapons station!"

The words had barely left his mouth when He Xu turned to look.

The two lifted the crate's contents onto the ground and discovered that attached to the rear of the Type‑201 gun was a massive spherical device.

There was no doubt—this was a weapons station.

A weapons station whose firepower comes from the Type‑201 gun.

But the problem is its shape; it looks nothing like something you could mount on a vehicle.

After a moment's observation, Chen Jian drew a conclusion.

"This isn't an ordinary weapons station. It's a fixed, intelligent weapons outpost."

"It's defensive equipment—pulled from who knows where!"

"Automated?"

He Xu asked, surprised.

"Quite likely; it's probably an automated defense weapon fitted with an AI module."

"This is good stuff—let's throw open all the crates and see how many we have!"

"Understood!"

Everyone sprang into action; after flipping open every sealed crate, the group found a total of four weapons outposts.

One of them was clearly wrecked, its innards a mess, chips exposed and half broken.

But if we could repair three of them…

"We should prioritize taking this one and give it to Lei Jie."

"If we can fix it, we'll gain three extra fire points out of thin air, deepening our tactical options!"

"Understood!"

Zeng Yi marked the crate, while Chen Jian, accompanied by He Xu and Ji Xing, moved the stacked boxes aside to reveal the largest one at the bottom.

He had no idea what those big boxes contained, but his gut told him the contents were anything but simple.

And indeed, the truth proved him right.

When He Xu pried open the wooden crate's lid and saw what lay inside, both men stared in stunned silence.

"Holy shit, aerial bombs"

He Xu whispered.

"They're old‑school aerial bombs—Cluster‑4, 250‑kilogram class."

"These were designed specifically to seal off airfields, with a blast radius exceeding five hundred meters."

“It’s powerful, but a shame—there’s simply no way we can get this thing up high enough to detonate it.”

Chen Jian said, a hint of regret in his voice.

“There are other models available.”

He Shuo pointed to the crate beside him, then said:

“The 250‑3 high‑drag demolition bomb, the 50‑2 high‑drag shell— the 50‑2 is practically an antique, is it still usable?”

“Hard to say.”

Chen Jian clicked his tongue and sighed:

“Even the rust‑spotted aerial bombs left over from WWII will go off; this one looks fairly well preserved, with little surface rust—probably dug up from some underground fortification.”

“Its exact yield is uncertain, but it will definitely explode.”

“This 250‑3 is in even better shape—definitely usable.”

“Its blast radius should reach about 150 meters—more than enough to obliterate a terror‑demon encampment.”

“But the same problem remains: we lack an effective means of delivery.”

“The Anqing ruins don’t offer the same geographic advantage as outside Huangshi City; without using the river to float it in, this thing is just a massive landmine in our hands.”

“Too bad we don’t even have a helicopter to spare.”

Chen Jian sighed wistfully, but He Shuo shook his head and replied:

“Without Brother Zhang the Butcher, are we supposed to eat hairy pigs?”

“The delivery problem can always be worked out; large‑yield explosives like this aren’t easy to come by.”

“No wonder the Ring Consortium classifies it as Tier‑II controlled equipment—they’ve probably blown a few things up with it before.”

“Indeed. In any case, let’s mark them all—there are six aerial bombs here, and we’ll take them all.”

“If worse comes to worst, we can use them as landmines during a holding action—enough to give them a drink.”

“Any other useful gear?”

“None.”

He Shuo shook his head and answered:

“Ammunition isn’t plentiful either—about a thousand or two rounds—but we can just top up our supplies.”

“All right. Let’s withdraw.”

Chen Jian waved his hand decisively, then said:

“Our gear’s been updated; our tactics need updating too.”

“In the fights ahead, we’ll build our strategy around these bombs as best we can!”

(End of chapter)